Armed with a portfolio of highly successful local and international series, the Spanish group made its presence felt at NEM Dubrovnik to continue building relationships with players throughout the region.
With production by Luis Cabrera, from Croatia
With series featuring captivating stories and impressive production values, Atresmedia has made its mark in every corner of the international market. The CEE region is no exception, where the group has managed to cross borders and win over audiences in several territories.
From a new edition of NEM Dubrovnik in Croatia, Ismael Ramiro, Sales Manager of Atresmedia Sales, shares with ttvnews some of the latest success stories from the Spanish giant’s catalog in the market, and the new offerings they are presenting to buyers in Croatia.
Which countries in the CEE region are setting trends?
Romania is a prime example. Due to the Romanian-Spanish diaspora, both countries are closely linked. Over the years, we’ve been successful in Romania, and more recently, our series have been even more successful there, resulting in some sales. We currently have active negotiations with some of the major players in Romania. And with that, there is indeed a domino effect. When content has a strong presence in Romania, it can boost sales in other countries, such as Bulgaria, the Balkan countries, or Greece, which also draw inspiration from that when evaluating content.
In the case of Bulgaria, it’s a region where our presence is even stronger than in Romania. Many of our series, for example, classic Atresmedia series like Física o Química or Aquí no hay quien viva, have been huge hits in the region. And that’s something that can drive sales in other countries.
As for the Balkans, we have a presence in both large countries like Croatia and Serbia, as well as in smaller ones. Recently, we’ve added more titles with players like Croatia’s public broadcaster, HRT, where titles such as Entre Tierras, the hugely successful Atresmedia series that’s also available on Netflix worldwide, have been announced. It’s a smash hit, a global success thanks to us and thanks to Netflix. This also opens the door here in other territories, with a view to potential second-window distribution, allowing us to exploit these kinds of series.
And Croatia is one of the examples where you can see our series, even second-window distribution, first-run series that we can’t yet confirm, as they’re already hits in Croatia.
Could there be other territories that, in addition to selling finished programs, are more open to new formats?
I think there’s a stronger push for scripted series. But it depends on the region. For example, there are series that have recently been released, like 33 Days. It’s a true crime series that premiered last Sunday on our atresplayer platform. And it’s a highly anticipated series. It’s based on a true story that took place in Catalonia in 2001. Carles Porta, a renowned journalist and one of the leading experts on true crime in southern Spain and Europe, created this series, and we’re very pleased that this is his first scripted true crime series, and that he’s doing it with us. He’s created other true crime projects, but more in the documentary field, like the docuseries Tor, which is also part of our sales catalog.
There’s a story of friendship in 33 Days. While they are criminals, there’s a very interesting story of friendship. They are friends who need each other, and their personalities are very different. One is a very violent person, while the other is a petty criminal, a loser. They complement each other. One is weaker than the other, but the other has his own personality. It’s a very character-driven series, very focused on the characters, not only on them, of course, but also on the police investigation behind it. We’re going to see how it develops, how that investigation begins, and how different members of the security forces take charge of this case. This is a very important case for the police force because it becomes a high-profile case. It’s in the public eye.
Another big hit they’re presenting is Dreams of Freedom…
With Dreams of Freedom, we’re now at almost 600 episodes. The first season has 270, the second 208, and now we’re presenting the third season, which is currently airing, with 250 episodes. It’s a long-running series that’s here to build on its success.
How open is this market for this type of series?
Long-running series, telenovelas, have always been in high demand in this region. In the past, we’ve had great international successes, especially with the telenovela El secreto de Puente Viejo, a very long series that was a huge international hit. And in this region as well, of course. Dreams of Freedom is here to pick up where that left off. The competition from other types of content is fierce, especially with Turkish series, but thanks to feedback and international sales in other territories, both in Europe and Latin America, we can see how competitive this series is against Turkish productions.
